Flecte Temporis
by B-ThreeOneTwo
Summary: Spartan-B312. On July 24th of the year 2552, you were reassigned to NOBLE Team. You participated in the Battle of Reach, dying in a heroic final stand against the Covenant that lasted for hours. You are partially, if not equally responsible for the victory of humanity over the Covenant. At least, that was how it should have been...
1. Spartan-B312

**04:30 hours, July 24, 2552, Hangar of the UNSC Frigate _Saratoga_ above the planet Reach**

Rubber finger tips grabbed hold of a long, black rifle from the weapons rack in the hangar, keeping fingers locked around it by the butt as it was swung over on their back. The small but notable click of the magnetic lock told the user that it was stuck in place, but they proceeded to lightly tug at it once, as to ensure it was properly placed. Walking ahead, the character approached a small crate. Within it held approximately two more clips, sixty-four additional rounds of 7.62x51mm NATO rounds in total, for the MA37 Assault Rifle. He placed the clips within his Tactical/LRP pouches mounted on his lower chest before noticing the glint to his bottom left. It was an M6G Magnum sidearm, laying atop a box of .50 caliber magnum rounds. Grabbing the weapon, he flipped the ejection switch. The noise of the 8-round magazine sliding from the weapon was satisfactory as he noted a full clip. Grabbing four more magazines, the character proceeded towards the edge of the hangar, wherein his transportation down to the planet below lay.

The loud sound of metal meeting metal was consistent for a few seconds before the entire bird shook slightly. The marines chatting with each other in the other seats ceased their conversation as some turned head to see what the cause was. Their organic green and desert brown fatigues and militant armor were shined, reflecting the indoor light of the Pelican aircraft like a mirror. Some held looks of surprise and amazement, while others held a straight face or smirk. Two marines immediately stood from their seated position in the transport, snapping a salute to the being that had decided to accompany them.

"Lieutenant, sir!" one of them, a female marine, shouted. This caused a slight uproar in the vehicle as the other seven Marines stood at attention, snapping to a crisp salute. The hulking six-foot nine-inch lieutenant stared blankly through his golden VISR, only to wave his hand as if to say "at ease". The marines all settled down, a few sitting down and changing the subject of conversation from whatever it was before to a new one.

"Holy shit, that's a Spartan!"

"I didn't realize the lieutenant was coming aboard with us."

"Wonder where he's going down on the surface?"

"What's his number tag?"

A volley of these questions was mumbled amongst the group of nine marines, but the Spartan just ignored them. He had purposefully sat the closest to the pelican door, wanting little to no interaction with anyone until he had touched down to the surface. Looking at his HUD from within his helmet, he checked the time. 04:40 hours. Enough time to get some rest and rejuvenation on the trip down. Powering off the VISR for his MARK V [B] helmet, he leaned back more into the seat of the pelican, tipping his head down slightly as he began to close his eyes. That is before his VISR glowed back to life as an incoming relay began to come through his private channel.

Letting a groan of disappointment roar from his throat, he proceeded to listen in on his comms, " _Spartan-B312, this is Auntie Dot, acting AI of NOBLE team. I am here to request that you meet Noble Four and Three in hangar bay four in approximately three minutes._ "

The automated British voice came through his HUD comms, but also as a visualized grid of glowing blue. It fluctuated as she spoke, indicating that that was what represented the AI.

"Affirmative. Tell them that I'm on my way to the hangar now," Spartan B-312 responded skeptically. No way were they supposed to meet him way up here, in the _Saratoga_. He was supposed to arrive at Buford station on Reach at approximately 0730 hours to meet them. However, the thought didn't matter much to the Spartan as he soon stopped thinking of it, only thinking about how to prepare either on the way to or at the station when he arrived.

Standing up from his seated spot in the pelican, the hulking figure proceeded to step off the platform of the pelican door. The noise of metal to metal contact began again, only for moments, however, even though it startled the marines again. When clear of the bird, he stopped and looked to his right towards the other hangars. Bay three was a way down, as he was currently in bay eight. Noting the time he was given, he had three minutes to make it to bay three from his current location.

This, to him, seemed to be a test of sorts.

And so he treated it as such, opting to jog rather than walk to his designation. Taking a crisp turn to his right, he proceeded to move fluidly down the large hangar area, passing bays' seven, six, and five in a matter of seconds. The clacking of his metal soles against the floor brought the attention of some marines and engineers, but not many as they were hard to hear over the sound of pelicans coming and going, or the repair of some vehicles. Soon, he had achieved his goal and found Hangar Bay three. Looking at his clock, he noticed he had two more minutes to spare before they arrived, and opted to check the function of his weapons. At the thought of this, he proceeded to reconfigure his MA37 clip.

Unclipping his MA37, the Spartan proceeded to pull back the slide, loading a bullet into the chamber. He removed the magazine from the weapon only to realize he was missing what he needed. An extra bullet. Turning towards the nearest marine, he turned on his external speakers and began to speak.

"Excuse me, I require an extra 7.62x51mm round, may I please receive one?" the Spartan spoke out in a smooth and strong voice. Definitely male, but it was slightly higher pitched than that of deeper voices.

The marine turned and stared for a moment before stuttering, "Uh, y-yeah. Here you go, sir."

Handing the Spartan a single bullet, it was gratefully taken from the soldiers' hand. Taking his thirty-one clip, Spartan B-312 slid the round into place among the others in his clip before he loaded the MA37 with it again. The blue indicator still read thirty-two, but in actuality, there were now thirty-three rounds within the weapon. One way, the Spartan had learned, to give himself an edge in any gunfight.

Once finishing with his little compliment to his gun, he swung it back over his shoulder and heard the click of the mag-lock as it locked the weapon in place. Checking his outer right thigh, the Spartan made sure his M6G sidearm was at his hip, in which it was. Knowing now that he had a full loadout, Spartan B-312 stood just meters away from the docking point, wherein the distance of space he could see a pelican approaching.

His private communications channel was reopened again, however, he was not greeted by the AI from before, " _This is Noble Three of NOBLE team, attempting private communication. Spartan B-312, do you copy? Please respond._ "

"This is Spartan-B312 responding. I am here in hangar bay three, as per request of Auntie Dot." He responded to Noble Three in a clear tone.

" _Acknowledged,_ " Noble Three paused, " _We're going to swing by with the Pelican door open. Commander wants you to meet the team early today, and he wants no time wasted._ "

"May I inquire as to why I am "meeting the team early" as opposed to the original arrive time?" B-312 asked, confusion slightly evident in his voice as the pelican became bigger the closer it got. It was just a minute out now.

" _Honestly, I don't know for sure. This is a little abnormal for NOBLE team, but I guess getting you acquainted with everyone right away isn't too bad, eh?"_ the Spartan spoke through the comms with a Slavic accent, and immediately Spartan B312's mind went to the planet Harmony.

"No, it shouldn't be. However, I simply do not wish for this to interfere with any operation NOBLE team might have," The pelican hummed as it turned a one-eighty, the back wide open as another Spartan stood on the right inside of the bird. The Spartan had an EVA [C] helmet, with the particular design of a wrath-like skull carved into it. B312 had heard of the [C] variant EVA helmet, used to terrorize insurrectionists. It was carved with specific detail, to such an extent that the angles had to be the right degree. That was all the Spartan needed to know about the other. The helmet spoke for him; he loved a fight.

The grey colored Spartan stepped forward, jumping onto the hovering pelican before walking up the ramp. He sat down in the nearest seat to the ramp doors, watching as they closed and sealed before they exited the hangar into the vacuum known as space.

The other Spartan, the one with the EVA [C] Helmet opened up a private channel between himself and B312, "Hey kid, what's your name?"

B312 looked towards the Spartan before answering, "B312."

"No, that's your Service tag, not your name," The Spartan scoffed, "or does the wolf not like to be called by name?"

Spartan B312 didn't react to the taunt, as he had been called that many times before, "Alex-B312."

"Now that's better! Mine's Emile-A239, Noble Four, just in case you were wondering," The Spartan, now identified as Emile, laughed out his introduction. Alex simply shook his head slightly, he was going to be a very annoying person in some cases. But then again, B312 had had to deal with that.

" _Since we're getting introductions out of the way,_ " the Slavic accent of Noble Three came through the channel, " _I'm Jun-A266, Noble Three._ "

"Pleasure to make your acquaintances," Alex stated with true satisfaction in his voice. He had been a lone wolf operative under an ONI supervisor from Sector III from 2545 to 2552, never once being assigned a permanent team.

Noting how it had gone silent, Alex decided that now would be a good time to get some shut-eye right before they got to the surface of the planet below. Once again, he leaned back into the seat of the pelican, letting his head lean forward as he powered off his VISR and began to close his eyes, before falling into slumber.

* * *

 **05:20 hours, July 24, 2552, atmosphere of Reach, ETA to Bufford Station: Ten Minutes.**

Emile-A239 glanced at Alex-B312, noting how still the Spartan had been for the last thirty minutes. He hadn't bothered to wake him, but Jun had just given the ten minute ETA until they arrive at Bufford station, where the rest of NOBLE team was currently stationed. And it was rather untrue to say nothing interested him about Alex-B312. No matter what the file sent to the team had said – or what it was allowed to say – Alex-B312 was a very secretive soldier. Only sixty-seven confirmed ops that were not covered by ONI Sector Three. He alone was responsible for turning entire militia groups inside out, disrupting organizations, assassinations, espionage, etc. Hell, the assignment that had gotten him approved to be transferred to NOBLE team had been the stamping out of an Insurrectionist operation on Mamore in May of this year, however, the how's were never detailed. Emile didn't usually bother reading files, but the amount of dates covered up, along with operations, had caught his attention. He never actually cared enough to read files, only if he was going to kill something, so their new Noble Six was something else. There was a chilling note to this guy though, and it was why he wasn't so sure that Noble One and Two were going to like it.

He wore almost completely identical armor to Thom-A293. In both variant, and coloration. Emile shuddered at the thought of that. It was like looking at a ghost. Suddenly, his communications crackled to life as Jun began to speak.

 _"ETA is two minutes now. Emile, you might want to wake up our guest,"_ Emile chuckled, slightly shaking his head as he stepped over to the sleeping Spartan. He quickly opened up a private channel with Alex, getting a quick jolt from him as he woke up

"Hey–"

* * *

"–wake up, Lieutenant."

 **O5:28 hours, July 24, 2552, Bufford Station, Reach**

Alex awoke to the tail-end of Emile's wake up call, immediately standing up from his spot in the pelican. Checking the time, he saw that it read 05:28 on his VISR, "ETA?"

" _One minute and twenty-three seconds to touch down,_ " Jun crackled to life over the private communications channel. B312 nodded at the information before getting a chuckle from A239.

"You ready to get a meet and greet session with the team?" the Spartan asked Alex, who had now faced towards the pelican door. Looking at Emile, he noted how he stood straight, but at ease.

B312 turned towards the pelican doors as well, "Yes, although I don't understand why this is necessary, as this was going to happen at the designated time later on,"

"Damn," Emile leaned back and look at him incredulously, "no need to be so robotic there. I don't know either, this is a little abnormal for the team as well. But then again this actually wasn't the commanders' idea, it was Holland's."

Alex's brow furrowed behind his visor. Colonel Urban Holland was the handler for NOBLE team, as well as the one who had approved of his transfer to the team after Spartan-B312 proved exceptionally well on Mamore in May of this year. He hadn't met the colonel, and hadn't heard much about him either, but knew he had to be proficient at his job if he was handling NOBLE team.

"Really?" Alex asked with a small amount of distaste.

Behind the two, a door within the pelican opened from the cockpit. The noise caught Alex's attention, causing him to turn around and see what the clunk was. The Spartan that presented themselves was who he had assumed to be Jun-A266. They walked over to the other two, their footsteps light despite the heavy armor.

"So, you're our new Noble Six?" the Spartan asked with a smooth, Slavic accent. It was Jun-A266. Alex confirmed with a nod of his head.

The pelican door began to open, telling the Spartan III to look forward. He straightened out his back, standing straight and his full scale of six foot and nine inches. The light blasted his suit as it was allowed to eat away the dark of inside pelican, but his VISR and enhanced eyesight allowed for easy adjustment to the planets' light. The loud clank of the pelican door hitting the ground was only present for a moment before the group of Spartan III's exited the back of the air vehicle. June and Emile took the lead, turning to the right after they had left the ramp. Straight ahead seemed to be the Stations' briefing building, which would act as the building for the 'Meet-and-Greet'.

From B312's personal analysis of NOBLE team so far, they seemed to be comprised of primarily Alpha Company Spartan III's. They had one Spartan II, something he found out through his ONI supervisor, but Spartan III's were the norm now essentially. Not a surprise that this team was full of them. He hadn't bothered looking into his teammates' profiles if they were III's, as most who looked at his didn't either. They were Spartan Three's, the most expendable form of military unit out there. They were created to put their all into each operation, up until they died on duty. No Spartan III was exempt from that. They were supposed to die in the line of duty; it was their purpose. Which was the reason for not looking through their files. There would be no point in reading up on them when on the next Op one or all could die.

They arrived at the open door in moments. Emile filtered in first, followed by Jun. Alex immediately followed suit, stepping through the door and into the lit briefing room. He saw that Emile had sat down on some crates to the left of the doorway, the soldier had just pulled out his knife and balanced it on his middle finger, point down. He looked up from the knife to Alex and nodded his head towards the open briefing table, telling him without words to look the other way. Doing so, Alex-B312 was presented with the rest of NOBLE Team.

"Commander, Sir!" Alex snapped to attention immediately, his figure became tense and straight. A light chuckle emitted from Emile as the Commander, who was currently standing next to someone with a holo-pad in their hand, looked at Alex. He was clad in a majority of his armor, save for his MARK V Commander Variant helmet, which rested neatly upright on the table.

"At ease, lieutenant," He stated directly to Alex, "I'm Carter, Noble teams' leader. Am I right to assume that you've already met Noble Three and Four?"

Alex eased up, but still retained his posture, "Yes sir, I have,"

"Good. Jorge should be here soon, he just went to get his armor checked up on," Carter explained to the other Spartan, "what's your name? I don't think the file divulged that to me."

"Alex-B312," Answering the question seemed to wield results, however not in the commander. The person, or rather woman, who was holding the holo-pad snapped her gaze up from whatever she was doing. This allowed Alex to get a better look at her himself. She was only wearing her Titanium Nanocomposite Bodysuit, the plated black suit outlined her figure, but also clued into Spartan-B312 that she was a Spartan. He noted how she had a scar that went from the top left of her forehead to just below her left eyebrow, as well as the metal apparatus that had replaced her right arm.

"You're from Beta Company?" she asked with a Slavic accent, much similar to Jun-A266. Alex nodded in confirmation. She had deep blue eyes, proof of the Spartan augmentations undergone by Spartan III's.

"I thought I was the only one pulled out of Beta Company before Operation: TORPEDO…" she mumbled to herself, but B312 caught it. And it caught his interest as well because he thought he was the only one to be pulled out.

"I'm assuming you exceeded criteria for the Spartan III program?" Alex inquired, finding interest in the topic of discussion.

She nodded, "Exceeded the criteria for III's, met the criteria..."

"…For II's." Alex finished the sentence for her, knowing exactly what she was going to say. The memo must have been the same for her because it was very practiced and precise in its wording. However, one could simplify it as "congrats, you're better than everyone else".

"I see our new number Six is getting himself comfortable with the team," a deep voice interrupted from the doorway. All people present looked at the voice, and Alex was met with a large Spartan. This must've been Noble Five, as the large Spartan walked his way into the building. Walking past Alex to the briefing table, he placed his Grenadier Helmet down on the table. Before promptly sitting on a crate in the near corner of the table.

"Yes, he is," Jun stated from the wall to the right of the doorway. Noble Five simply chuckled before looking at Alex.

"M'name is Jorge-052, Noble Five. Sorry for interrupting your little spiel going on there, I just thought I'd drop by. It is already 05:50 hours after all," Jorge introduced himself, giving a small smile as he did so. Alex immediately picked up a slight Hungarian accent within his speech, which could come from a variety of places. Carter walked over and stood next to Jorge, waiting for B312 to finish introducing himself to before engaging in a conversation with Jorge.

Alex met his gaze through his visor, "Alex-B312, pleased to be here."

Jorge simply nodded, allowing Alex to turn towards the woman in her Bodysuit, "I haven't gotten your name yet, ma'am,"

"Catherine-B320, but everyone here calls me Kat. When I was pulled out I was assigned straight to NOBLE team with a few others, Carter included. What about yourself?" Catherine identified herself, then asked a pressing question to Alex-B312.

In a short amount of time he came up with an answer, "That's classified."

Catherine, as well as Carter, both looked on in confusion before Carter spoke up, "Elaborate lieutenant."

"Under regulations of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Sector Three, I am unable to divulge my whereabouts between May of 2545 and April of 2552. To do so would mean forceful retirement for myself as a military soldier." Alex stated with no hesitation, as though he had answered the same question numerous times. Carter looked on his new Noble Six with narrowed eyes before Jorge tapped him on the shoulder, gaining his attention.

It was Catherine's turn to speak up, "Sector Three, ONI Black Ops, correct?"

"You are correct ma'am," the newest addition replied, accompanying a nod with his words.

"I had thought so, with the amount of censored information on your file, it was hard to make out anything. I've only been able to fill in a few of the blanks," she said as she grabbed the holo-pad again, "you have completed – officially – only forty-nine assignments. All of which were mainly insurrection curing and covenant engagements."

"Kat, I am going to stop you for a moment. Let's not try to dig too deep into Alex-B312's ONI history. If it's enough that they're willing to forcefully retire a Spartan III, then its stuff that cannot be brought to public ears," Carter spoke up from the back once more, having stopped his conversation with Jorge. Alex lightly gave a nod of thanks in Carter's direction, who returned the gesture.

"So what did your Operations entail?" Emile asked from the crate he sat on by the door. Jun nodded in agreement, as to say 'What he said'.

"I can say that I did Lone-Wolf Assassination primarily."

Jorge perked up, "Who of? If I may ask."

Alex directed his gaze at Jorge, "Insurrection Leaders, Organization CEO's, etc. at least those of the official accounts,"

Jorge nodded as he looked on in thought. Meanwhile, B312's gaze slowly passed over all of NOBLE team around him. They seemed cautious of him, primarily Carter-A259. It was expected that would happen when he had told them he was previously Sector Three, but he felt that it was necessary for him to tell them if he wanted to be a part of this team. He needn't pour his heart out, however, he could disclose information about himself that they would find out later. It would build trust knowing that he told them before they found out themselves, instead of hiding it from them. But everyone had their secrets, and he wasn't telling his anytime soon.

With these thoughts, an inquiry came to his mind. Alex looked directly at Noble One, making visor to eye contact before asking his question, "Sir, if I may ask, why this meeting was called at the time it was? I understand that this was Colonel Holland's notion, but I fail to see the full reasoning behind this other than a 'Meet-and-Greet'."

Emile chuckled a little in the back, but Catherine gave him a stink eye look from over her holo-pad, quieting him down. Carter looked on at their – his – new Noble Six, before sighing.

"The primary reason for this meeting was, for lack of a better term, a 'meet-and-greet'. However, the secondary reason was a test of trust. Your profile withheld more information than we thought, which meant that we couldn't evaluate where you would stand in the team. This was to evaluate your personality and compatibility with a team, and to say you pass or fail isn't a determining factor. Either way, you're on the team, Noble Six. And we're sure as hell glad to have you."

Alex straightened in his posture, "Thank you, sir."

Meanwhile, Catherine was just finishing up cleaning their newest additions' file, accessing ONI censors via her holo-pad to look at his profile more. She'd read the original file, and she would read this one, but Carter would have to see this as well. Checking the time at the top left of her pad for a brief moment, in which it read 06:20 hours. She had five minutes left of access, which was enough time with her "borrowed" clearance level four from ONI for her to finish up the last of the censored data. Alex-B312 was a very secretive man, who hadn't even taken off his helmet yet. It was strange, and with curiosity at the wheel, Catherine pressed the next black square on his profile. However, it lacked the reaction she had thought it would give. Instead of disappearing to reveal what was behind, it gave an error code.

 _Unauthorized clearance level_

 _Level 7 clearance required to access_

 _Er_JA(a)R4A_

Catherine looked on in confusion for a moment, ignoring the small banter that was taking place between everyone else as one question flooded her mind repeatedly.

Who is 'JA'?


	2. Winter Contingency I

**06:25 Hours, July 24, 2552, Bufford Station on the surface of Reach.**

Conversation ceased between the team of Spartan's in the briefing building, silence embedding itself within the air for a few seconds. The only sound that presented itself was from Kat who began to walk over to Carter-259, whilst still keeping her eyes on the holo-pad as she tapped away. The Commander noticed the movement, as well as the serious expression that was present on her. Making a decision in a moment, he opened up a private channel with all of NOBLE team.

"Everyone, you're dismissed. Jorge," the Spartan II looked at the commander, "I want you to walk around with Noble Six, give him a tour of the station."

"Got it, sir," The Spartan II said, standing up and walking over to the table. He grabbed his Grenadier Helmet and brought it over his head, twisting the helmet to seal it to the suit. Alex-B312 looked at the large Spartan as he walked over towards him.

"Let's go, Six. We've got some sights to see," Jorge passed by the grey Spartan, who followed close behind him.

Jun and Emile vacated the building only a second after they did, one going to do maintenance on his rifle, while the other one went to sharpen his kukri blade. All this, and it was only Noble Two and One in the building, "Kat, what do you have for me?"

"I've been able to decrypt a portion of B312's file from the ONI censors, but a lot of it is still restricted by level Seven security. I cannot get access to that," she explained with minor frustration evident in her voice. Carter could feel a 'but' coming up as the female Spartan handed him the holo-pad, in which he gladly took from her hands.

"But…?" he began, giving Catherine the ability to finish her thought.

"But, the information I could compile is what is interesting," She said, looking at her Commander in patience as he read through it.

Carter's grip on the holo-pad tightened slightly. This file, because of Kat, now was more exposed to the eyes of Noble Leader. His thoughts were jumbled for mere moments before his mind cleared and he made sense of it all. He glanced at Kat as if to say 'are you serious'.

"He has sixty-seven confirmed Ops, one being the most recent Mamore insurrectionist curing he pulled by himself in May this year. And he was deployed on Fumirole in April before that. But, he has at least eighty other Ops that were guarded under level four security, maybe more if you count the possibility of what's under the level seven clearance sensors," Shaking her head as she recounted the piece of information easily.

Carter read through another piece of the file, "It says here he's been a part of three projects or programs, what does that mean?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Kat shrugged, "the names are never mentioned in his file, but maybe within the ONI database at Sword…"

"I'm going to stop you right there Kat," Carter pointed an authoritative finger, "I understand you're curious, however, there's a line that you cannot cross. Am I clear Noble Two?"

She frowned, straightening her stature, "Yes sir."

"Good," He began as he looked down towards the holo-pad once again.

Carter was intrigued by the number of operations their newest addition had been placed on, the fact that more of them were hidden than those he was openly admitted to. Even then, Alex-B312 was never mentioned by name, the only thing relevant was his service number, 312 that was reused numerous times. He had read ONI files on Spartans before, and they never used their names, especially for Black Operations. Typical ONI Black Ops.

Alex-B312 was not normal in this aptitude. He was definitely from ONI. His formality with the other Spartan III's was so straight, and almost like each word was towards someone of higher authority. Yet, at the same time, it felt as if that had been the way he had always talked to someone. His social situation must have been strict, causing him to develop this way of socializing with anyone after working under higher ranked officers all the time. It was something that the Noble Leader hoped to break soon. Helping their newest member become comfortable with everyone on this team was key to cohesive teamwork.

Carter had noticed that Alex was comfortable, to an extent of course, with Catherine-B320. It made sense, having encountered someone of the same Spartan III company as he wasn't expected. Last he heard, Beta Company was completely wiped out during Operation: TORPEDO. Carter sighed as he read through more of the file, indulging himself to the text that was about their new Noble Six.

What a mystery.

* * *

"And here's the armory. Suits us Spartans amazingly enough," Jorge gestured with an open hand towards the building ahead of them, "It's a normal rearmament building for the most part, except that it's got an armor installation station and armor lockers."

"Huh," was all Alex replied as he looked the building up and down. The thought of getting some armor refitted to him was tempting, however, he had become somewhat sentimental with his current shielding. It was like his second skin, having been through thick and thin for all of one year. He'd grown attached to it, and he need not shed it now.

"Yep, that's pretty much all of it. Doesn't necessarily mean a lot though, we're gonna be moving out here by fourteen-hundred tomorrow," Jorge-052 shrugged before glancing at his company, an unreadable expression on his face.

Alex rolled his shoulder, "I think I might get a refit then."

"Alright," the Spartan II acknowledged, "I'll leave you be for the time being."

Alex nodded as Jorge turned away, heading back in the direction of the briefing building at a slow walking pace. He turned towards the armory building and began to walk over towards the double door entrance. The building was two stories tall it seemed, and a large portion on the right side seemed to be the garage, as evident by the Warthog Assault Vehicle that exited from the opening door. There were no windows to show that a second story was present, then again, there weren't any on the first floor either. It was all a tinted deep green color, partial camouflage if he were to make an outright guess.

Six reached for the double doors as to pull the door open, only to have the left door open itself. Out came two marines, chatting and talking before the last one shot a look at Alex. He stood agape for a moment, before snapping a crisp salute. His comrade saw this and turned, instinctively doing the same. The Spartan nodded at them before a thought came to his mind. He wasn't completely with the idea of performing this, but it was something he saw while participating in an info-gathering Operation a while back. The way two civilians interacted was interesting and he had seen it many times before. Now he wanted to try it himself.

Alex folded his right hand into a fist at his side before bringing it up to chest level. He pushed it forward slightly so it was an equal distance from the leading marine and himself, and held it there. Silence ensued for a few seconds, as the marine looked back and forth between Spartan and his fist, contemplating on what to do. Realization struck his facial features as the marine realized what the Spartan was doing. He followed suit, forming a fist with his right hand and pushing it forward. The gloved hand lightly collided with the gauntleted fist of the six-foot-nine-inch tall soldier, emitting a light thud that went through both of the parties' arms. It was only for a moment that it stayed that way before Alex pulled his arm back to his side, sending a nod to the marine. The infantryman nodded lightly in return, confusion, and relief spread in sync on his face as Alex-312 turned around and stepped through the open doorway of the armory, disappearing inside.

When Alex stepped into the building, he was immediately met with what looked like an open gymnasium with a boxing ring outlined in the center of the floor. Dumbbells and weighted bars were off to the right side, covering the wall like a spreading plant as the large light fixtures were hanging over the entire gym. There were numerous treadmills and other workout equipment sectioned off to the left side of the gym, of which a dozen of them was occupied by marines as they worked themselves. It was a bit fuller than he had expected it to be, but it made no difference. In the back of the gym, he could see a door that was left open, a sign on the top of the door frame that labeled it as the Spartan Armory. Finding his desired destination he began to walk towards it and kept going while he was called from the left side of the gym.

"Hey, Spartan!" he was clearly being mocked, as per the amount of sarcasm dripping from the voice that called him out. It didn't bother the Spartan though, as he walked around the left side of the fighting ring at the center of the gym.

Whoever called him did not like how they were being ignored, "Hey! I'm talking to you, Sparky!"

Alex decided to give his attention to the voice, turning towards the individual. He was met with four people, all in their fatigues. The patch of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper was sown on their left shoulder, giving context towards this encounter. They wanted to tease him. It was normal for Spartans to be targeted for bullying and teasing by ODST or other individuals, however, that always never went far. He looked at their ranks and noted how they were all sergeants, nothing compared to him. They wore smirks that could be described as going from ear to ear, but none had any notable features. No need to try and remember them at all.

The leader was bald and tall – not as tall as Alex, and smirked as he stood from his sitting position on a bench press, "How old are you? If you're a Spartan III, then you must be young right, Sparky?"

The ODST was met with silence, "Yeah, well, I've probably seen more action than you! So you better understand who stands higher than you in the chain, kid."

"Huh," Alex tried to hide a small laugh. This ODST was entertaining, as there was an obvious juxtaposition between the six foot and nine inches tall Spartan, and the five-foot-ten-inch shock trooper.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stop harassing a superior officer. I understand that you've probably been in the corps for longer than I, however, that it is inexcusable to act the way you are at this moment," Alex turned away back towards the end of the gym. The ODST was silent as he stood still, having caught a glimpse of the wings of Lieutenant on the Spartan. He snorted before turning back to the bench press and laying down, returning to his workout.

Alex entered through the door and took in the surroundings of the room. There was an armor installment station in the center of the large room, and off to the right, there were lockers – what he assumed were the armor lockers. To the right, there were weapons lined up on a long rack spanning the entire wall, from MA37 Assault Rifles to SPNKr surface-to-surface launchers. The room had an even amount of white light sourcing from the ceiling that was spread throughout the room, casting a minimal amount of shadow from an object inside. As he stepped forward, he found that he was taking himself over to the weapon station, albeit already having a selected loadout on his person already.

Extending his arm, he grabbed hold of a Designated Marksman Rifle. He held it for a while, feeling the grip and the weight of the weapon. It felt natural like it was a part of him. He turned and inspected the device in his hands before placing it back on the rack. He began to reach for another weapon, only to hear the armor installation system activate. He turned immediately and was met with Catherine as she jogged through the door clad in her nanocomposite suit.

The female Spartan looked to her right when she noticed Alex, "Lieutenant, you might want to hurry up with picking out your loadout."

"I wasn't ma'am. What's going on?" Alex asked as Catherine lay on the upright bed in the armor installment. The mechanical arms gracefully acquired the metal components of her armor and began to place them in their respective places. The clicking of the armor set in place was repetitive, and the small hum of the magnets activating soon followed. The turquoise shoulder pads and chest armor went on first before the metal boots and gauntlets followed. They were snapped and screwed together in place, the nanocomposite suit becoming covered from the view of most eyes. An Air Assault variant helmet was about to be placed on her head, but she grabbed it before jumping out prematurely from the machine, allowing her to leave.

She held it under her left arm before turning to Alex, "Holland has something for us. Not sure what it is, but the commander wants everyone to assemble in the briefing building."

"Acknowledged," he replied, jogging out the door and across the gymnasium. Catherine had caught up with him by the time he had exited the gym building, and they both turned towards the briefing building and falling into a jog.

* * *

 **07:29 Hours, July 24, 2552, Surface of Reach at Bufford Station.**

Alex slowed his pace as he entered the building, falling right behind Catherine. Stepping beside her, he stood and listened in on the briefing taking place with Holland and Carter, as was everyone else.

" _Contact with Visegrád Relay was lost last night. All signals flatlined at twenty-six hundred hours. I responded with trooper fire-teams, which have since been declared MIA,_ " Holland stated over the holographic computer, causing Alex to perk up a little. The Saratoga had lost contact with that relay outpost around that time if he remembered properly. It was a vital station for that region, allowing ships to drop and pick up supplies at the port.

Carter spoke, "And now you're sending us."

" _The Office of Naval Intelligence believes the deployment of a Spartan team is a gross misallocation of valuable resources,_ " Holland stated with confidence, " _I disagree._ "

Carter slightly nodded in agreement, while Six held some reservation on the thought. While Visegrád was important, it wasn't serious enough to exactly warrant a Spartan Team. But still, calling it a gross allocation was a bit much, although there had been a few times he himself had been sent on rather small ops almost like this, but that was just him. No one else.

"Anyone claim responsibility, sir?" Carter asked, narrowing his eyes slightly as Holland responded.

" _ONI thinks it might be the local insurrection. Five months ago, they pulled a similar job on Harmony. Hit a relay to take out our eyes and ears, then stole two freighters from dry-dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online, Noble One,_ " Holland explained to Carter, as well as the other Spartans present. Alex nodded slightly at the proposition, agreeing silently with what ONI suggested about this operation.

"Sir. Consider it done."

" _Then I'll see you on the other side Noble. Holland out,_ " and with a quick snap, the Holo-computer shut off. Movement began in the room, Jorge and Emile being the first to do so. Jorge placed his helmet on his head before twisting, causing a hiss to emanate from him quickly as he passed Noble Six. Emile followed suit, sheathing his kukri as he walked past him. Catherine repeated Jorge's action, placing and twisting her helmet on with a twist before following them out the door. Carter turned away from the screen, facing towards Alex with a serious expression on his face.

"Lieutenant."

"Commander, Sir."

The two paused for a split second before Carter spoke, "You're riding with me, Noble Six."

"Yes sir," Alex obliged, falling in behind Carter at a brisk walking pace. Heading outside, two falcons were visible. The entirety of Bufford was more active, marines jogging in a twelve by three line to his left as he sauntered out with his commander. A pelican on the far side of the station's landing pads lifted off the ground, turning away from the small buildings as it left the vicinity. Alex stepped to the right of his commander, the infantry aerial vehicle dipping slightly under the weight of the two Spartans stepping into the Falcon aircraft. Sitting down in the seat facing the front of the vehicle, Alex turned to his right and nodded at Jun, who returned it from his position across from him. Carter flashed his hand outward, signaling the Falcon to lift off.

Alex simply stared off in thought while the UHH-144 Falcons took off, reassessing the mission in his head. The goal was to get Visegrád back online and assess either the damage or the assailants. The possibility of it being the local insurrection is almost definite, though there is a possibility of a malfunction on their end. However, that would not explain the missing troopers that were sent to investigate, so it only made the idea of it being the insurrection more plausible. He let out a small sigh as he looked out over the flat planes of Reach, only thinking more about the mission to come.

* * *

 **08:40 Hours, July 24, 2552, 50 klicks from the relay outpost.**

As the team was airborne, Alex took the time to take in the scenery of Reach. The Highland Mountains of Epoz were a sight to see, dull grey opening to tips of tinted bright white. The further down you looked, there was more vegetation, but it was also dry and dead looking. He still had yet to see all of Ütközet, Reach, and he doubted he would be able to anytime soon. The sound of the Falcon was quiet, yet still noticeable to Alex as he sat within one of the passenger seats, staring out across the Cliffside and down to the wind-powered spires in the distance. Neatly plowed, but also dead, farm field littered the plateau as far as the eye could see. It was like two-dimensional blocks and sphere carved into the planet's surface.

Looking at this all reminded him of the meteorite crater discovered by ONI back in 2550. It was noted to having astrophysical importance, and yet the residents were never relocated. Alex knew the reasoning behind it of course. ONI was nothing if not a risk-taking part of the military. Seeing if the meteorite yielded some sort of effect on the residents of Visegrád is something they would do.

Staring out, he saw a few small puffs of smoke were noticeable in the distance, but those were probably just farm fires. Those happened a lot out here. His radio crackled to life suddenly, causing him to turn to his left where Carter was ahead of him, and Falcon Charlie Two was to their left with Catherine, Emile, and Jorge. Carter brought his hand up to his helmet, speaking into the communication channel.

"Listen up, Noble Team. We're looking at a downed relay outpost fifty klicks from Visegrád. We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, then Kat's going to get it back online," Noble One stated.

Catherine looked across the small gap between the two Falcons and nodded, "Just get me under the hood, Commander."

"Sir," Jorge began, "why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?"

"You get the chance, maybe you can ask them, Jorge."

"Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ," Kat alerted the team, Alex slightly perking up at that. The Relay was down, but that didn't effect communications across the planet. Something was creating a dead zone here.

"Back up channels?" Both Carter and Alex asked at once, the two barely sharing a glance with each other before turning back towards the other Falcon.

"Searching," A pause, "nada. Can't say what's jamming us."

Carter raised his voice a little, "You heard her. Dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip."

A small 'tch' came through the comms before a recognizable voice provided input, "I'm lonely already."

Six felt Charlie One dip to the left with its twin, the two Falcons flying over a rock wall of sorts before a farmland came into view. Dying plants and dry soil littered the valley, and the smoke from a burning building did little to help with a view. Breathtaking would be seen as a joke.

Carter brought his left hand up to his helmet, "Shoot down attempts are likely, so keep your distance."

"Yes, sir!" the pilot responded.

The communication channel crackled to life once again, "There's the communications outpost."

Looking upwards, he then saw their objective, highlighted on his VISR. The relay outpost, in all its large, metal glory. It sat there, slightly mocking them with its leering presence. However, Alex became confused as the Falcon began to loop around the top of the farm. An icon opened up on his VISR HUD, highlighting an area by some silos and a building where a clear residual battle took place. An overturned hog with flames lightly licking it on the inside said that, as well as the smoke billowing out from that burning building.

"Reading a distress beacon," Catherine stated as they circled around again, this time hovering over the open farmland. Carter nodded slightly, looking at the wreck down below.

"Could be the missing troopers. Let's check it out."

"Sir," Alex interjected, "with all due respect, might I suggest fulfilling our Primary Objective before searching for the troopers?"

He could feel the gaze of the commander through his visor, but no words were spoken before he began again, "The troopers would have signaled to us were they here, which they obviously are not."

Jorge broke over the channel, "I disagree Six. We should find those troopers first, they could tell us what's been happening 'ere."

"No," Carter spoke up, "We'll split into two groups. Two, Six, you're with me. Four and Five, you will get down there and look for the troopers. Jun, I want your eyes in the sky."

"Sir," came the reply from Jun. Carter nodded, motioning for the Falcons to touch down.

"Put us down on the bluff, pilot," when that was said, the two aerial craft began to turn and descend upon the top of the farmland hill, bumping slightly off the ground be for coming to a semi-stop. The propellers still spun, but they were groundside now.

"Alright big guy, let's go," Emile called out to Jorge, the two hopping out of Charlie Two's Falcon. Carter and Six did the same, the two transferring over to the other Falcon.

"Welcome to your new flight," Catherine welcomed humorously as Alex and Carter stepped into the Falcon. They began to sit down when Charlie One lifted off and began to shadow Emile and Jorge from the air. Charlie Two soon followed suit, flying up and the opposite direction as they took their journey to the relay outpost.

* * *

 ***Sorry for the long wait. This is just very long build up, the next chapter will have action in it :)***


	3. Winter Contingency II

**Date July 24, 2552, Highland Mountains of Epoz, Ütközet, Reach, Viségrad Relay Outpost.**

The humming of plasma died off as swiftly as it came and silence reigned inside the Relay Outpost. As the last human fell, a satisfied growl made itself known from the darkness. Four alien fingers caressed a deactivated handle as the being moved forward with haste. Each step taken was silent, and the figure of the seven-and-a-half foot tall beast was outlined in a purple glow. Two other figures outlined in a similar fashion moved through the hall behind the lead, heading towards the primary target that held what they were looking for. The humans put up a puny fight and died swiftly. They were not worth the time at all and were just wastes of ammunition. Why they fought for something they did not understand perplexed the leader of three, but it did not matter. They would perish like all others did before him.

Before the blade of Greso 'Vagamai.

The trio turned the corner and found the place they were looking for easily enough. Before making another move though, they all froze and listened. One of the Zealots sniffed the air lightly before letting a low growl out. A signal to his two comrades.

He swung his head towards Greso, "There are two humans here."

"Yes," Greso replied immediately before stepping forward, "but they will fall like the rest of their heretic race."

And with those words, Greso 'Vagamai lunged from the shadows and towards the two humans hovering over one of their primitive devices. Activating his blade with a quick flick of his wrist, the noise of the weapon caught their attention and caused them to turn. However, by the time they turned, it was too late. The minimal resistance of the energy sword searing human flesh was familiar to the Field Marshal. Grabbing the human by the throat, the Sangheili proceeded to lift the grey-haired human from the ground before pulling his blade out of the human's abdomen. The gasp of a final breath made him cackle as the two Zealots moved in from behind him.

"Pitiful. You are beneath us," He spoke with mild amusement, growling slightly when the angry roar of the other human. Turning his attention towards this human who ran at him with a small blade. Tossing the dead human behind him, Greso struck this other human when it got close enough. He sent it flying, hitting a wall before it fell to the floor.

It was not a bad habit, but neither was it an honorable one. The Field Marshal pulled a plasma rifle from its place at his side and pointed it towards the human, shooting the lower life form with ease. The scream of pain from the impact hitting its abdomen was nothing short of disgusting; if these creatures had any sense of honor, they would kill themselves in the face of an undefeatable enemy. So when this human decided to live instead of taking his own blade to himself, The Field Marshal turned away and back at the two Zealots.

They looked at Greso as he spoke, "The human is done for. Extract the data from their devices and prepare to cleanse this facility of its communications."

They nodded before resuming their objective. Plugging their personal data-pads into the tall stacks of human technology, extracting any data they could on anything to do with their god's technology. The humans could not have it. These disgusting parasitic heretics must be cleansed from this planet if they were to find the artifact. A small wine came from one of the purple data-pads connected to a terminal, causing Greso to saunter over to it and look at the data the humans had. Taking a few moments to read over it, he pulled it from its place and growled deeply. The Zealots did the same, storing their data pads back within their proper compartments.

Greso turned up and howled in anger. Taking up his plasma rifle, he fired at the terminals in the room until his weapon burned his hand. Sparks flew as the screens and lights fizzled out, and the low humming of their electronics disappeared. He placed his rifle back before looking down at the data-pad once again. He was infuriated at what he had read.

The only reason he was able to understand it at all was because of the Covenant's Huragok. The creatures were genius and had been able to translate the language of the humans to Covenant hieroglyphs.

"Those filthy parasites!" Greso howled out in anger, turning towards a staircase behind the abundance of devices with the intention of leaving; they had completed their mission. They needed to get to the top of this forsaken facility for their pickup, before reporting back to Thel. The location of the artifact was secured and the human communications were, as far as they understood, completely taken down. They could not call for help now.

The Zealots turned to follow Greso up the stairs, only to halt at the sound of chatter through their comms.

" _Human airborne - heading towards Greso's location - can pick up,_ " the line of chatter was cluttered with multiple others relaying different information, but the trifecta understood with the little they received.

"A few insects are nothing to us. They will fall like the rest," one Zealot ground out with confidence, unsheathing his Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle. Greso simply turned back up the stairs and ascended them with the other two in tow.

"Cleansing such scum would waste our time, Ratara. We should leave with what we have immediately," the other Zealot stated in a calm tone, only for them all to clam up as a new line of chatter filtered through their comms again.

" _Engaged with humans - squad of demons - request assistance,_ " Greso noticeably perked up at the information.

"A squad of demons…" he mumbled, before arriving on the floor above. He whipped around swiftly and bore his gaze into his two Zealots.

"Jiga is correct, Ratara. As much as I would enjoy slaughtering the humans," he spat, "we must push forward with our objective."

Suddenly, a small noise touched the inner ear canal of the Field Marshal, causing him to stiffen and emit a clicking noise for a moment. He looked in between Jiga and Ratara before officially coming to a decision.

"A change is upon us. We shall wait here instead. There are humans arriving soon, and we must cover our tracks,"

Jiga began to argue, "But our exfiltration unit-"

"-will be regrouping with the main forces to reinforce against the demons. We _will_ wait here and we _will_ kill the coming hostiles."

Greso turned away from the two vehemently, gesturing them to follow. The room they were in was above the data room they had come from, so the layout was similar. The Sangheili Field Marshal moved towards the corner of the room and noticed that a certain area of the floor was ventilation. Rearing his leg, he brought it down with force. The vent flew down and landed on the grated floor below with a loud clang.

He turned toward Ratara and ordered him to shut the power off on their floor. After that was done, they sat around the opening, blades, and rifles in hand as they waited for the humans who would surely come.

* * *

The noise of the falcon was audible, but not to a deafening point. UNSC technological advancements allowed for ONI to develop a silent airborne vehicle. This was important as it allowed for Sector 3 to engage in black ops operations easier and with air support because of this advantage. The noise that they made was also quite soothing and easy to doze off to. At least to the Spartan III.

Alex almost started to do just that, only to be jolted up from his lax state by the radio crackling inside his helmet.

" _We're going to be over the target in thirty seconds, sirs. From my perspective here, it looks empty,_ " Charlie One's voice crackled over the comms channel.

All three passengers slightly perked up at this, and Alex turned towards Catherine and Carter. Catherine met his gaze for a brief moment before turning to look out towards the opening scenery of the mountain and the outpost below. He immediately stood up from his seat and moved more towards the outside of the vehicle. Releasing a seat that was locked in place, he swung it out so it faced outward from the interior of the falcon. Alex plopped down in the seat, leaning forward slightly and looking down upon the courtyard.

As he was doing this, Carter brought his hand up to his helmet, "Acknowledged, they must be inside then. Drop us in the courtyard pilot."

The pilot began the descent towards an open area of the relay. As they got closer to the ground, Alex noted that the courtyard indeed looked empty. Save for cargo that was left relatively untouched, there were no signs of organic life that he could see. However, they were still about forty-five meters in the air still. He was bound to see something closer towards the ground. And just like he had expected, he did see something.

At around thirty meters from the ground, Alex could easily see large burnt slashes carved into the outpost walls and concrete. They were accompanied by circular burn marks that littered the entire courtyard as well. There was a slight shine of some bullet shells by some boxes, just not in an abnormally large amount. A shift of some boxes towards the cargo garage caught his attention and he turned towards the movement. He scanned the area before seeing a pool of blood from behind a box, and momentary thoughts and plans flew through his head like a haze of bullets.

 _'_ _Signs of battle are present. No hostiles; we would have been engaged when we entered in range. Burns and cuts present as well,'_ His thoughts collected into a mass of strategies, and finally deciding to take action. He put his hands on the base of the falcon and straightened his legs out. The movement did not go unnoticed as he heard Catherine's voice break over his comms.

"What are you doing, Six?" the question was practically in one ear and out the other with him. He was solely focused on the mission at hand. Tensing his arms, he pushed off the seat of the Falcon and into the air and began his speedy descent from twenty-seven meters. A few seconds of airtime was enough, as Spartan time came into effect for him alone. Everything slowed down as he began to take in his surroundings more clearly.

The burns and cuts were clearer now, and he was able to deduce the likelihood of plasma damage. That was not good. This paired with the two marine bodies in the cargo garage meant only one thing for certain. The Covenant was on reach.

Spartan time dispersed from Alex as he impacted with the ground. He squatted down and absorbed a majority of the impact, but his shielding took a hit that bumped it to forty-nine percent. As he stood up again and looked towards the cargo garage, his shielding hummed back to life and restored itself.

" _What are you doing, NOBLE?_ " Carter inquired heatedly as the falcon was about nine meters off the ground.

Six brought his hand up to his helmet, "Sir, I have confirmed presence of Covenant on –"

Suddenly, someone else broke through the comms, " _This is Jorge! We have confirmation of Covenant presence on Reach! I repeat, The Covenant is on reach!_ "

The sound of battle was highly present in the background of the transmission, and the air suddenly filled with tension. The worst imaginable thing was just announced. The composure of the Spartans was almost lost, but they gathered themselves quicker than anything as training kicked in.

" _Dear god,_ " The pilot mumbled through the comms channel. Six couldn't agree more with those words. The team's communications channel opened up again. This time, Carter spoke.

" _NOBLE Five, this is NOBLE One. Do you require assistance?_ "

A pause came before an answer, " _No, assistance is not required. We've got this under control, get the outpost online and re-establish contact with command._ "

" _All right. When you're done there, get to the relay outpost. Out,_ " Carter responded as the falcon hovered just above the ground, offloading the two other Spartans from the vehicle. Alex turned away from the Falcon and began jogging towards the cargo garage. Entering through the large open door, he was met with one of the missing fire-team members laying in his own blood. His IFF tag showed up in the top right corner of the Spartan's HUD, with a name and rank.

"Private Nathaniel T. Schwartz…" He mumbled under his breath. Kneeling down, he began to assess the body. Hopefully, this would allow for them to at least understand what type of forces they were dealing with.

Private Schwartz had two plasma burns located on his body – one on his shoulder and lower stomach. The stomach wound had melted gear surrounding it and it still sizzled slightly. It was cauterized shut, a stench probably originating off of it. Alex wouldn't know, his helmet filtered out hazardous smells. The shoulder wound had taken a large chunk of flesh with it, exposing the muscles beneath what would be skin. His chest was caved in, that much could be seen in his chest fatigues. There was blood pooling beneath the corpse, and Alex simply sighed. He looked over and noticed a set of footprints that headed towards the direction of the facility door.

And they were nothing close to human.

"NOBLE One, I have one KIA fire-team member. The chest is caved in, and there are Sangheili tracks that lead into the facility," Alex stated over the comms channel. He looked up towards the opened facility door, making his way towards it.

" _Acknowledged Six. Regroup with Kat and I before heading into the facility,_ " Carter remarked curtly, Alex turning around and staying put. He saw the Falcon lift off the ground again as Catherine and Carter made their way across the courtyard. Reaching up behind him, he grasped the handle of his Assault Rifle and brought it down in front of him, holding it at the ready.

When Carter and Kat were next to him, Alex could feel the glare from his teammates, "What were you thinking NOBLE?"

"About the mission, sir," The reply was immediate, and without hesitation nor uncertainty. Alex really didn't see what he did wrong. He was complying with the mission parameters, and was simply trying to strive for the completion of the mission. NOBLE One stared at him for a moment before shaking his head lightly.

"Just remember that you are a part of a _team_ now. I told you, and still expect, no more 'lone wolf' activity while you are on this team. Do I make myself clear?" Alex tensed slightly at remembering that small yet important detail.

He had partially forgotten that they were not just tag-alongs. They were his teammates, and he needed to take them into account during missions, engagements, and other such activities. The fact that he had reverted to his lone wolf ways would only dig a trench between himself and his team.

"Crystal sir," he replied, standing straighter as he bore his weapon.

"Commander," Kat's slavic voice broke through, "we need to push inside."

Six looked behind him towards Kat as Carter passed him, drawing his own weapon from his own magnetic lock, "Then let's go. Six, you take point."

Alex turned fully towards the two and jogged over. Entering through the large open door, he was met with the red lights of the facility and darkness. He looked around briefly and spotted a door leading deeper into the facility, a UNSC armed forces unit slumped against the frame. Blood coated the fall behind him, and the Designated Marksman Rifle was simply laying in his cold grasp.

Alex ignored the corpse, not sparing any more attention towards it. Mourning the dead wouldn't bring them back to life; he had an objective he needed to complete.

Approaching the door, it opened up with a hiss. The red lighting from their current room spilled into the dark corridor ahead of them, clashing with the shadows only slightly. He brought his weapon up, suddenly cautious as a chilled feeling settled upon him.

He stepped through the door, only to stiffen and stumble as something suddenly assaulted his head.

It wasn't anything physical for sure, or else his teammates would have engaged an enemy of some sort. No, this was a heavy pounding in his head, like someone hitting him with the butt of their rifle. It was accompanied by a violent buzzing feeling and his vision began to swim. Everything became a blur as his eyes went in and out of focus and his ears began to suffer from tinnitus.

Placing a gloved hand on the ground to keep himself up, Alex shut his eyes and slightly groaned. He felt a hand on his shoulder but didn't bother to look up at whoever it was. He stayed like that for a minute before, with an almost unsettling speed, it dissipated completely. He began to regain his composure while listening to the slight worry in Catherine's voice behind him.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" Catherine helped him up to his feet, grabbing his outstretched hand. Once he got to his feet, he shook himself and stared forward for a moment. Confusion funneled through his mind as a cold feeling again washed over him.

 _What the hell was that?_

"I'm fine now," Alex stated, glancing back at the two Spartan III's, "I felt like I was concussed, did anything go off when I went through the door?"

Carter shook his head, "Negative. No devices went off, and there was no movement on the motion sensor either."

NOBLE Six turned forward again, towards the dark hall. A small light that seemed to come from the left was now noticeable, as well as another small detail. Blood.

"Six, turn on your night vision," Carter ordered quickly. As Alex began to move forward, taking point at the head of the group, he activated his night vision sights from his HUD. The hall became more visible as a green tint rolled over his VISR. Cautiously moving forward, with Catherine and Carter following behind him, he noted the bloody footprints of Sangheili that went in the same direction. They were barely visible, almost completely gone, but he could make them out. Three pairs.

"There is a possibility of three Sangheili still inside this facility," Six warned as he rounded the corner to his left. He deactivated his night vision and let his gaze fall to the corpse ahead of him. It was a civilian with a pool of blood that centered on his lower abdomen. _Lower abdomen punctured by an energy sword from behind._ He silently noted it for later, when a report would have to be filed on this encounter.

Catherine passes him, her magnum down to her side as Carter come from behind and sweeps the right side of the room, "NOBLE Six, check that body."

Six only nodded before crouching down and hovering over the corpse, just about to flip it on its side. He was caught off guard when he heard Carter talking to his right side, and turned his attention over there for a moment.

"Where's the rest of your unit?" The blue Spartan III inquired of what looked to be an army corporal. The man was leaning against a wall, cradling a plasma wound on his torso. The small white color that conquered the wound was most likely self-administered biomedical foam. The placement of the shots were meant to kill, meaning that if this corporal was going to live, they'd better get some medical personnel here. Fast.

"We got split," the gruff voice of the corporal explained, pain and fatigue heavy in his voice, "I don't think they…it sounded bad on the comms."

Alex looked away from the two others, now directing his attention towards the body in front of him. He felt around for any forms of identification as Carter eased the corporal in the background, telling them that they would get him a combat surgeon soon.

Grabbing the underside of the civilian body, Six began turning it over when a small data module fell out of a pocket on the dead man. He glanced at it before turning his head up at Catherine's scoff.

"Damn," she mumbled before raising her voice, "plasma damage."

Looking back down at the module for a moment, he dropped the body down and grabbed it holding it up and looking at NOBLE Two again.

"Found something," he announced, shaking it slightly. His teammate looked behind her at the data module in his hand and wasted no time in snatching it from him.

The woman examined it in her hand, "I'll take that, Six. Not your domain."

Six stood up from the body, looking around the room a little bit. Plasma burns littered the console, and splotches of blood painted the floor in various places. A red blip showed up for only a moment on his motion tracker, but he caught it nonetheless. He swiveled his head in the direction it was in, and noticed a small set of stairs that were guarded by shadow. This caused him to come to one conclusion.

Something was beneath the stairs.

Clipping his assault rifle on his back, he pulled out his magnum from his thigh and flipped the safety to off. He moved slowly over towards the stairs, and when he got close enough he activated his night vision. He caught the visage of a human girl, huddled into a fetal position under the stairs. He felt only slightly relieved and deactivated his night vision whilst flipping the safety on his gun. He shot an arm out and grabbed her arm, earning a surprised squeal from the girl as she was suddenly pulled out of her hiding spot.

"I've got a civilian here," Alex announced to everyone as the girl – for she could not be very old – began to struggle against his iron grip.

She yelled at him, "Engedj el, hadd menjek ki innen! Hé!"

Alex knew what language it was, as he had read the information on the residents of the Epoz Mountains before they had arrived. Their main language was Hungarian, and even though they could speak English pretty well, they had a respect for their roots. Needless to say, however, Alex did not know Hungarian, and so could not discern what she was saying.

"Relax, please. We're not here to hurt anyone."

"Hagyjon békén!"

Carter spoke up from the other side of the room, "Six…"

"I've got this under control, sir," Six stated firmly, before turning back to his current dilemma. He had a hold of her left wrist and quickly whipped her around so her back faced him. He then snatched her other wrist and pulled it behind her back violently before getting a grip on both with a single hand. Holding her, she stopped struggling, but her breathing was ragged and fast.

"Hold still, and I will let you go," Alex stated firmly, giving a slight shake as to keep her attention.

She looked worriedly up at him from behind before speaking softly, "Még…Itt vannak."

Alex did not react to the words though. He didn't know what they meant. Before he could do anything though, time slowed for him. Spartan time was kicking in, and he didn't know why. That is, until he noticed the purple figure that was now crouched next to him, as mandibles moved slowly and an outstretched claw came towards his head. The handle of what could only be an energy blade's handle. He meant to move, _needed_ to move, but his body wasn't listening to him for some reason.

A cold chill raced down his spine and webbed throughout his being in an instant, and then time resumed its speed as the crack of a sword being activated rang in his ears, and the heat of the blade was able to be felt through his armor. He watched in mute confusion as the blade made contact with his VISR, melting through the shield and metal, before making contact with his face. The pain that followed was excruciating to the point that he wanted to scream, but couldn't do it.

Then, in an instantaneous event, he opened his eyes.

 _'_ _When did I close my eyes?'_

And he found himself on the ground, kneeling in the corridor with Kat's hand gripping his shoulder.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" Kat asked with the same tone from prior. Alex simply stared at the ground, not knowing what to think. What the hell just happened? He felt the chill crawl down his spine for what he thought was the fourth time, but it couldn't have been. He hadn't moved, right? What was this sense of déjà vu?

"Affirmative, I'm okay. Let's move forward," Alex stood up without the aid of his teammate this time – _this time?_ – and took point, moving up through the hallway. He had activated his night vision already, and had let them know he had done so before moving in.

Turning the corner, Alex looked down and saw the body of the old civilian, staring down at it in confusion. He swore that he had searched it, or at least thought he had, but it was in the position that it was in prior to him moving it. Catherine passed by and told him to search the body again, but the words meant nothing to him.

He already knew what he was going to do.

He ignored Carter's conversation with the corporal over to his right, and instead flipped the body completely over on its back. The data module fell out of the body's pocket, and he immediately picked it up.

"Here, Kat. Your area of expertise," He stated, catching her attention. She snatched it from his hand and examined it briefly.

"Why thank you, Six. I'll look at it later," She stated, pocketing it before looking over the console ahead of her. Kat grumbles and announced that there was plasma damage done to the console, but again Alex ignored the background conversation. He instead focused on the stairs, and simply watched silently from across the room. Activating his night vision, he could see the silhouette of the girl as she was huddled under the stairs. He turned it off and looked away, placing his attention on Carter and Kat.

"Have we been contacted by NOBLE Five and Four?" He inquired, gazing at the two of them from behind his VISR.

Carter brought his hand up to his helmet before opening up the comms channel, "This is NOBLE One, Jorge do you read me?"

A moment of silence hung in the air, " _This is NOBLE Five, I read you loud'n clear Commander._ "

"What's your situation?"

" _We've located one of the missing fire-teams down here at the bottom of the mountain. We just finished cleaning house and are waiting for transport. We should be able to arrive at the Relay Outpost in about three hundred seconds._ "

Carter nodded in content, "Acknowledged, we will wait for you here. However, there is a high possibility of there still being a hostile presence within the facility. Approach with caution."

" _Affirmative_ ," Jorge replied, and that was when Alex took his cue.

"NOBLE Five, this is NOBLE Six," Alex spoke, looking towards the ground as he did so.

" _I read you Six, what's up?_ "

Alex paused for a moment before continuing, "I need a translator for the natives here."

" _Ah, alright. I'll see what I can do,_ " Carter and Catherine exchanged looks for a moment before going back to the machine. Catherine has removed a cover over one of the consoles, taking a look at the heavy circuitry inside.

Alex stands up and strides over to the stairs, grabbing the girl that is sitting still in the darkness. She gasps as she is pulled from her hiding place and is pulled in front of a giant hulking man, a look of fear over her face as she begins to yell.

"Jorge, translate what she's saying please," Six requested whilst keeping his iron grip on the woman.

There was silence over the communications channel as the girl said something, " _Let me out of here. Leave me alone._ "

The grey Spartan III grabbed both of her forearms with his hands suddenly, restraining her. She halted her movement, before looking up at him worriedly with a gaze that spoke of fear. Six ignored it all until she spoke again.

" _There's more…!_ " Jorge's voice crackled to life over the radio, surprise and shock accompanying his voice. The moment it came through, Alex turned his attention to his left. He watched as the Sangheili touched the ground in slow motion, energy sword off and in hand. The Covenant soldier brought his right forearm across his chest and activated it, going for a strike. Six was already moving out of the way, pulling the girl underneath him and using himself as a shield.

He heard the crackle of the air as the sword missed his mark above him, and took it as his cue to move when a growl of challenge came from above him. He positioned his right arm and leg at an inclined angle, before pushing off the ground with as much force as possible. Sailing across the air for only a moment, he landed in a painfully low crouch to the ground. The follow thuds reminded him that there were two other enemies as well, and this was easily confirmed when he looked up.

The Sangheili – a Field Marshal by the armor configuration – lunged forward towards Kat, who dodged the strike that followed. Sparks flew as the plasma sword connected with the computers embedded into the walls and severed a screen in half. Six swiftly pulled his assault rifle out from its place on his back and brought it to bear, raining a hail of bullets into the Covenant soldier. They bounced off the energy shield of their target and only seemed to further aggravate his opponent, but that wasn't cause for letting up on the assault.

The Field Marshal turned his sights to Alex now, an unreadable expression on its face. The moment Six ran dry, the Sangheili lunged forward, pushing him roughly aside. It knocked the S-III's shield down to sixty percent, leaving him slightly vulnerable. However, the Spartan didn't care; he had a mission to uphold, and he would accomplish it by _whatever means necessary_.

The Sangheili sprinted past Alex whilst he was down, heading down the corridor and towards the outside. Attempting to get back up and pursue the elite, his efforts were pushed against as he was tackled by one of the Zealots. It tried to stab him in his lower abdomen, but he clasped his hand around its wrist and kept it from doing so. Pulling his right fist free, he punched the hinge-head right in the maw and elicited an angered growl. This was cut short though as Carter came over to assist, kicking the hostile off of Six. The Elite scuttled across the floor and swiftly picked itself up, ignoring the rounds that brutalized its shields, even when they went down.

Carter kicked Alex back his MA37, of which was received with unparalleled speed. In the blink of an eye Six was back on his feet and aiming his weapon at the two Zealots who were hovering in the doorway, but he didn't fire. None of them did.

They had a _prisoner_.

The proper term was hostage, but it might as well have been the same thing at this point. The fact still was not alien to the Spartans in the room. The Covenant _never_ took human prisoners. All humans, no matter what rank, prestige, or anything, were killed by the Covenant. It might as well be the law of the universe.

So when the UNSC Army corporal screamed in fear and pain as he was held by one of the two Zealots before them, they could do nothing but keep them in sight. Jorge suddenly crackled through the communications channel.

" _Commander, we have arrived at the LZ and will push inside. We can hear the trouble from out here,_ " the S-II stated gruffly, the sound of him heaving his weapon out of the falcon evident in the comms.

"Affirmative, Jorge. We have two Zealots with a _hostage_ ," the word was hissed out in anger, "and one that made its way outside. You may be engaged on your way in," Carter rattled off quickly as the shields of one of the Zealots shields began to recharge. The Corporal kicked and screamed and flailed during this all and Jorge cut in right after, reporting almost immediately.

" _Negative, sir. No signs of hostiles out 'ere."_

Six tensed at that, as it could only mean that the third hostile was still in the facility somewhere.

Suddenly, a familiar chill engulfed his spine and he had to resist the urge to shiver. It was at the most inopportune time that this happened as well.

The Zealots shields hummed as they filled, which was the cue for them to bolt. They did so, breaking into the dark storage room behind them. The moment this happened, Six made a move to pursue them, only to stop as he heard a hiss from behind him. _Close_.

Heat overwhelmed his chest as a pale blue light sizzled and burned. Breathing became impossible as he took in a shattered and burning breath. He couldn't move because of this pressure and heat and pain he felt. Pain like nothing he had ever felt before. Barely able to muster the strength to do so, he barely tilted his head downward. The blue light of an energy sword sticking straight through his right lung brought him to the realization that the last hostile had simply made a tactical retreat, before returning with the element of surprise.

And the one thing that Six thought of as the world began to fade. As the weight in his chest dissipated and the screams of the girl and corporal berated his ears, and as the sound of Carter screaming over the comms resounded through the entire room.

The one thing that came to mind when he opened his eyes again, and found himself kneeling on the floor in the corridor once again and the feeling of Catherine's hand present on his shoulder.

 _How could I have been so ignorant…_

* * *

 **I lied about this coming out on Saturday. I felt really productive today, partially because this is the largest chapter I have ever written. I'll put the word count on the end of each chapter from now on too.**

 **Anyways, this was a bit of stretch in some places, but I am feeling fairly confident in the way this is playing out so far. I would like to thank everyone for the critiquing and motivation. The reviews, follows and favorites are appreciated, especially because this got a lot of attention with just the first two chapters** ** _alone_** **. More are sure to come, and updates will be big but slow. I'm trying to push 7,000 words as the average, and hopefully, we reach that later down the road.**

 **Word count for the chapter: 5,800 words.**


	4. Intermission I

**July 24, 2552, Highland Mountains of Epoz, Ütközet, Reach, Viségrad Relay Outpost.**

Catherine held a hand on her comrade's shoulder as he knelt on the ground, confusion and worry fuddled in her mind. The instant he had fallen onto a knee, she had looked over her motion sensor and brought her weapon up in front of her, aiming into the darkness ahead. After it was clear nothing had attacked them, she knelt down to assist their newest addition to the team.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" she inspected his vitals from her HUD as she asked this, whilst also thinking within her own mind.

What had caused such an adverse reaction? Did their new number Six have a health condition that affected him in the field that they were not told about? His heart rate had gone through the roof the moment he doubled over, was he suffering from cardiac arrest?

Suddenly, she watched as his heart rate instantly recovered to normal levels, but that only worried her more. Why the _hell_ was his heart capable of going from thirty beats per minute, escalate to one hundred and forty beats, then back down to thirty beats per minute in _under four seconds_. She was most certainly not medical personnel, but she could simply tell that it was not a good sign for one's body to do that. Not to mention the fact that it was almost _impossible_ for someone's heart to do that in the first place.

Alex-B312 simply nodded as he stood up from the ground, seemingly recovered from whatever happened. He brought his weapon up to bear before gesturing forward with his left hand and proceeding to move forward. Catherine followed close behind with Carter in tow behind her, his Designated Marksman Rifle looking up as he watched the ceiling for a small moment.

As they turned the corner into a small room painted by light, Catherine and Carter eased up slightly. The slight groan from the right seemed to catch her CO's attention as he rushed over to a wounded corporal. Catherine looked at the body in front of them, just about to tell Six to search the body, only to not have to. He had already searched it apparently and was now holding onto what looked like a data module. It was held out to her and he nodded his head towards it.

"Here," he gestured towards the chip, "this is probably more towards your expertise anyways."

"I appreciate it, Lieutenant," she accepted the small data module, opening up the small storage unit on her left hip before dropping it inside. She headed over to the console ahead of her, silently aware of Six heading towards the stairs to her left. Again, she found herself stuck on the mysteries of their newest member, even as she scoffed and announced that the console had taken plasma damage.

There were little things in his file, things easily overlooked by others, which she grasped onto while she had viewed it. His immediate combat record wasn't just for show, but rather a small portion of everything. Eighty-seven operations, including a Mamore counter-insurgency operation back in May. Even that had some things covered up in it, but one thing stood out about Mamore, and every one of the eighty-seven operations that were not covered in between the years of 2547 and 2552.

He had done them all alone.

Whoever his ONI handler was must have had his hands in deep in order to send out Alex on his own like that. The five years of being under the same handler and going on missions that were on the cusp of suicidal, and not once was there a single failure. Even if there were some operations that were completely redacted or covered, it was still easy to understand how _good_ their newest member really was.

She had also taken the liberty of finally uncovering at least one of the programs he had been a part of. He had been a test pilot for a top-secret project of a new UNSC fightercraft, and had shown those skills during Mamore as he had dispatched them with the very same ship.

Needless to say, she had not listened to Carter when he told her not to dig any deeper.

Catherine was broken from her thoughts when she heard NOBLE Six say something. Turning towards him momentarily, she watched as he flipped a civilian around and restrained her easily. She watched as he tensed slightly when the girl said something, and immediately Spartan Time kicked in for her.

B320 watched as her fellow Beta Company brother immediately pushed the girl to the side before drawing his assault rifle. Just as the safety was flipped off, she tossed her gaze towards wherever he was looking and saw why.

In slow motion, the bottoms of two hooves coming from only one thing began to drop from the ceiling. By the time she had finished the thought her pistol was already out, and time began to come back to its normal speed.

" _This is NOBLE Four, we are at the relay entrance, what's your status over?_ " Her comrade came to life through their communications channel just as the Elite – its armor was of Field Marshal Configuration, she noted – swung a crackling sword of plasma over Alex's head. The Spartan jumped back, raining bullets down on his target as two more made their way down. Carter and Catherine stood there, their weapons aimed at their intended targets as Six melted the leader's shields with his NATO rounds.

The Lead growled in a challenge as it jumped down, the other two following suit behind it. Catherine clicked her gun's safety off a second too late as the Sangheili launched a blade in her direction.

She ducked out of the way as Carter screamed over the comms, "We've been engaged!"

The sharp noise of electronics whining and sizzling emitted from just above her head, before being accompanied by the pop and fizzle of the Sangheili's shields. Recovering quickly, she brought her magnum to bear and fired rounds into the Zealot that blasted past her. The rounds pinged off of its shields, but still did enough damage that when Carter focused fired on it, they went down.

The soft thump from behind her caused her to turn slightly, watching as Six pulled a knife out of the Marshal's mouth. The ex-ONI black ops sheathed it immediately and brought out his MA37, popped in a new magazine, and turned towards the other Zealot. However, it proved ineffective as it barreled into him, throwing the Spartan into the wall before rushing straight past her and Carter. With a speed she barely caught, the Sangheili snatched the corporal up from his spot on the wall and held him out in front of its comrade.

It shielded it companion from the fire with one of their own, and that thought alone made Kat pause. She was not going to shoot when the possibility of an unnecessary casualty would come out of it, and Carter must have thought the same thing as he stood aiming at the two Sangheili, tense and ready to fire.

Six came up right next to her, with his assault rifle out and ready to kill. She watched as he stood there, his finger itching towards the trigger as he watched the Sangheili's shields recharge. He looked down slightly in thought, but Kat was drawn from that as she watched him tilt his weapon down.

 _What is he doing?!_

* * *

Alex needed to think. Fast.

He was dealing with this situation now for the third time. He knew that as fact now, or had at least come to accept it as such. The foresight into the situation had helped him slay the leader of the group quickly and efficiently. However, he still had no idea how to solve the underlying issue of this situation.

The Spartan knew well enough that if they let these Sangheili run off with their hostage, that they would kill him as soon as possible. There was just no way around it.

His blue eyes under his VISR narrowed as a grim thought was created in his mind. It was a surefire way to eliminate the Zealots, and it would work. He'd done it before, only with insurrectionists. There was only one issue with the entire plan though.

His team would most certainly despise him for it.

Tilting his weapon down slightly, he began to wait for just the right moment. The Sangheili holding the corporal was currently unable to see him and the shields of the other were just about finished recharging. And when they did recharge, the flash would blind the Sangheili for only a split second. All he needed to put it into action.

The moment the crackling shields melded together and glowed over the frame of the other Zealot, Six dropped his left hand to his thigh and grabbed hold of his sidearm. Bringing it up in a blink of an eye, he flipped the safety off with a satisfying click before bracing his arm and pulling the trigger. The familiar bark of the weapon felt good in his hand, but who he had decided the target would be made it less so.

The bullet hit true to its target as a helmet was blown off. Brain matter shot onto the two Sangheili as the corporal went limp in the arms of the one holding it. As the carcass was dropped, Six pushed his legs forward with lightning speed, dropping his assault rifle as one Elite brought a hand up to wipe the blood and brains off its face.

Perfect.

Getting in front of the other one, he stepped to the side of it and into its blind spot. He kicked out a leg from under it, causing it to stumble slightly and kneel. He brought his pistol up and shot the rest of the clip at point blank into the skull of the alien. Its shield fizzled and died instantly before two rounds traveled through its skull, making it drop immediately. He turned around in time to see a wrist blade flung at him, crouching into a low squat to dodge it before jumping upwards and tackling the remaining Elite into the ground.

They tussled only slightly, as Six brought his knife out from his sheath. The Zealot growled out in anger as it raised a hand to rip the hulking demon off of him, only to have its hand shoved violently away. The Spartan raised his arm up high with his blade and brought it down faster than one could perceive.

The Elite went limp immediately as the knife went through its shields and embedded itself in its jugular. Six held it there, breathing heavily as he looked at the dead alien. He had done it. _They_ had done it. Whatever they were here for would not get back to whatever leaders they had, because they had ensured that the Zealot squad was eliminated.

He stood up and flicked his blade away from him, blood coming off it swiftly before he brought it to his chest and sheathed it. He was breathing heavily, staring down at the lifeless alien corpse. Fingers didn't move from their place on the blades hilt, despite it being sheathed. There was always the possibility of these things coming back up from anything and taking you down. His communications suddenly opened up.

"Six, what the hell are you doing?!" Carter shouted through the open channel, the thudding footsteps coming closer to Alex, as he stood there and looked up at his commanding officer.

"Catherine, get to work on the-" Carter was interrupted when Jorge came through their headsets.

" _Commander, what's going on? Is it clear?_ "

Carter paused before answering, staring down Six through his VISR, "We're clear Jorge. Get in here now. All hostiles are clear, but we've had a case of friendly fire."

" _What?_ " the astonishment that dominated his voice almost made Alex cringe. Carter got right up in front of him, grasping his wrist tightly.

"Just get inside," the blue S-III stated before turning to a private channel, "I am going to make one thing crystal clear to you lieutenant, and you better take it in stride."

Alex stood straighter, "Yes, sir."

"On no accounts will I _ever_ tolerate any behavior like that, and I HIGHCOM will most certainly not either. I would have you detained right now and on your way back to the main fleet if it were not for the fact that Winter Contingency is going to be in effect. This is _not_ an ONI Black Op, and as such those types of actions and behaviors will _not_ be in this team. Do I make myself clear?"

Six stood a straight as ever as he thought through it all. He had been acting on his own. He should have stayed back and waited for an order, and fallen in with the team. Instead, he went about doing it his way, forgetting the team and falling into his habits.

"Crystal, sir," Alex replied, not moving an inch. Carter glared at the Spartan for another minute before turning back to Kat, just in time for the rest of NOBLE to be falling in.

* * *

Jun-A266 sat in the Falcon as it circled around the tip of the mountain, providing overwatch for the rest of his team down in the Relay Outpost. When it came in that there was a friendly fire incident, Jorge and Emile – Emile less so – acted in outright surprise and anguish. It was Six, if the small briefing from Kat was anything to go by, and they were all a little spiteful towards their newest addition. Jun was not the same, however, for he had partially expected this from Alex. He sighed as he reminisced on the past, and having Alex-B312 assist him in an insurrectionist operation.

Before Jun was a member of NOBLE team, he was part of a top-secret program for Spartan III's known as the Headhunters. It was a small group of selected Spartan III's who showed promise. They were put on two or more missions that were evaluated against a set of parameters calculated by the top ONI Specialists in the Beta-5 Division. Once inducted, they were sent to a secret facility for training over three months. Then, they were evaluated individually and interviewed to great extent before being placed in pairs of two.

These special soldiers were a secret even to their sibling Spartan III's, and were sent on missions dancing on 'suicidal' it was not unexpected for headhunters to switch partners constantly, or for entire teams to not come back. It was a grueling program, one where Jun had developed his skills at long range engagements and intelligence immensely, and it was back in 2547 that Jun had met Alex.

From what Jun had seen and heard about B312 in the headhunter, was that he and his partner were unstoppable. For the first fourteen months of the pair being inducted into the program, they successfully completed fifty-nine operations. They were top listed in the program for a while, before B312's partner was pulled from the program for unknown reasons. However, B312 stayed in the program as far as he could tell, and completed another eighteen operations before being pulled out after seventeen months. The final operation that was completed by B312 was with Jun. The operation was a complete success, and Jun was pulled out to join NOBLE team just after, and Alex must've been reassigned somewhere else because he was pulled around the same time.

" _Jun, bring our birds down. We're exfilling back to base,_ " Carter broke through his thoughts, causing Jun to bring his head up from his feet.

Jun activated his comms, "Bufford?"

" _Affirmative._ "

"Roger, commander," Jun acknowledged, motioning the Falcon pilot to stop their overwatch and land in the courtyard. As the rest of NOBLE team came into view with Six along with them, he thought back to the program once again.

They would never openly discuss it, nor would they ever tell their teammates about it. It was a secret program that was meant to be that way, however, they would always silently acknowledge the other.

As Catherine sat down beside him and Jorge loaded his weapon into the center of the vehicle before sitting down across from him, he nodded to the big Spartan II. He returned it in kind, and the vehicle lifted off the ground.

" _This is Charlie One and Two, we are coming home, over."_

* * *

 **05:30 hours, July 25, 2552, Bufford Station, Reach**

Alex lay atop his bed within the barracks at Bufford Station, clad in his armor, looking up blankly at the ceiling. They had gotten back towards dusk yesterday, and needless to say, NOBLE Six had departed from them all the moment he could. He had a further conversation with Carter via private channel later on, and Six was set up for a psych evaluation later on the twenty-fifth. Today.

He grimaced at the thought of it. He hated the idea that scientists were going to start poking at his brain, assuming that he needed help or was mentally ill. He knew that for every psych-eval he had, they all ended up saying the same thing, that there was nothing wrong. It was a waste of time in his opinion.

The twenty-year-old Spartan sat up on his bed, it creaking under the weight of his armor. By no means did he sleep with his armor on, he had woken up approximately thirty minutes beforehand and had put on his armor first thing. He then proceeded to come back to his bunk, and lay down and think.

He couldn't understand the events that had transpired yesterday. He was sure that he had died, twice as a matter of fact, and had ended up at a set point in time again and again. There wasn't any explanation for it, or how it was even possible for something like that to happen. Was it time travel? Or was it a form of foresight, where he could see the future? Was it just him thinking, and getting lost in thought? No, that didn't explain the sudden attack on his senses. The feeling of tinnitus and a concussion were all too familiar to him, but Catherine and Carter had said – multiple times – that no devices were detected to have activated when he went through the corridor. It boggled him, even now while he tried to think it through. There was no technology to make such a thing possible.

His mind drifted to a few months prior, back in March. Thinking back on a project he was a part of, thanks to his handler at the time. His eyes widened in realization before he narrowed them in thought.

He remembered the project and its purpose. It had been dubbed a failure, as using ancient and unknown technology to achieve what they were trying to do was something that could only fail. They didn't understand it, despite what some other would think, and thus ONI's attempt at a solution to the Human-Covenant War failed yet again. He groaned slightly in annoyance. This was frustrating, nothing made sense.

Taking a deep breath, Alex stood up and headed to the door to his bunk, and it opened with a hiss. As he stepped out, he had to pull back sharply to avoid bumping into someone rushing through the corridor. They shouted a quick sorry before running down and turning. Alex simply watched down the way the soldier had gone, before shaking his head slightly. Turning right, he headed down towards the door that led outside.

When he opened it, he was welcome to the sight as the sun poked the top of its head over the horizon, causing streaks of golden yellow and orange clouds to shift. Birds flew in the distance, and the minimal noise of the base around him soothed his conflicted mind. Looking around for something, anything, to take his mind off of the issue of yesterday, he spotted someone he'd yet to talk to in a while.

Jun-A266 sat on a lone crate next to a few others with his suit on, save for his helmet which was on a crate to his right. Walking over to his teammate, he opened his external speakers up as he approached.

"Bravo, Delta, Romeo," Six scratched out, sleep still evident in his voice.

Jun chuckled as he looked over towards his fellow Spartan, "That old thing? From the Tantalus operation back in forty-seven?"

Alex settled down next to Jun and gazed off at the sunrise, "It was one of the most memorable. Besides, I've used it a few times on ops."

"Have you now?"

Alex nodded in reply, going silent shortly after. They sat for a moment before Jun spoke up again.

"You should take off the suit for a while. You'll get all pale," he half-joked, glancing in Six's direction.

Alex turned towards his teammate, "Maybe."

"Come on," Jun pushed, "At least the helmet. Get some fresh, real air."

Alex looked down and pondered it for a bit. He could argue that he could get plenty of fresh air in the suit, but that would only lead to more bickering. And he was still tired, despite how he seemed awake.

Surrendering to the idea, Alex brought his hands up to his helmet, flicking the seals off with a satisfying click. The hiss of the suit followed with the helmet being twisted resulted in it popping off quite easily. The Spartan III lifted it up off his head, and set it aside before looking at Jun once again.

Two bright blue eyes met Jun's and Alex looked at him. Black stubble covered the bottom of Alex's chin and over his almost bald head. Pale skin contrasted his little amount of hair easily, and a small jagged scar about an inch long trailed down his temple to his cheekbone on his right side.

"See, isn't that better?" Jun lightly smacked Alex's shoulder, chuckling slightly. The edges of Alex's lips twitched upwards slightly in a small smirk.

"I guess. It's not all bad," Six stated staring back out towards the sunrise before lifting himself up from the crates. He turned away and began walking off towards the shooting range.

Jun looked up at him quizzically, "Where are you headed?"

"Shooting range. I need to warm up this morning," Alex answered, his helmet held at his side. He didn't wait for a reply and broke into a small jog as he approached the long one-story building. As he gazed on, he noted a three-story building sitting behind it, and a few obstacles that lay strewn throughout the field next to it. It must have been the gauntlet building, since this was a permanent checkpoint and barrack for the military personnel on Reach. He approached the shooting range, listening to the muffled and faint sounds of gunfire emitted from within the building. Opening the door, they became louder as the smell of false battle tinged at his nose.

The S-III moved towards an open lane, grabbing a Designated Marksman Rifle and some ammunition from a rack before he arrived there. He was going to run the gauntlet in a few minutes, but first, he needed to warm up. No other activities until he had a ninety-five percent accuracy rating. Loading the rounds into his weapon of choice, he flicked the safety off and aimed in. Watching as targets began to appear, the bark of his rifle answered their constant appearance on the range.

* * *

Jorge was clad in his full armor as he passed the range for what must have been the seventh time already. He was still thinking about the incident on the operation of the day previous. It was surprising, to say the least, that their newest member had done what he had. Granted, he very well knew what Covenant hostages entailed, and understood the motives behind the action of NOBLE Six, but he still couldn't help himself from thinking about it too much.

The total amount of casualties were seventeen – seven civilians, and ten army fire-team members. He had compiled a report based on the findings of Carter, Six, and himself. The entire way the mission was handled didn't sit right with him. While even if different action was taken, the probability of them successfully extracting the injured corporal was still incredibly low, it would have given them a slightly greater chance.

A chance that was blown the moment Six pulled his trigger.

The Spartan-II sighed. He, of course, understood where the comfortability of killing a fellow human being came from. While the Human-Covenant war was still raging, insurrections had begun to flourish elsewhere, so the call of duty to snuff out those rebelling against the UEG during this long war was large. It was commonplace almost.

But Jorge didn't think he could take a fellow soldier's life like that. Even if it gave him an advantage against the enemy he wouldn't do it, refused to.

Their newest member was a mystery to all of them. There were, and still are, things they didn't know about him. They had no idea what kind of team environment he was prone to and had no idea what-so-ever about the kind of missions he had taken on. That is, before Kat had deemed it fit to inform them shortly after the mission.

Needless to say, Carter was not happy that she had dug deeper into Alex-B312's profile, and had made that clear the moment Catherine had started talking. But she began to rattle off more of his combat record that she had uncovered. They knew he had around sixty-seven different operations, but then twenty more were added to that list. These ones were different though, and the already previously known of ops were only clarified more. The additional twenty was nothing like the others. Data retrieval, multi-target assassination, and desertion chasing were a few of them.

Then, she bumped into Fumirole.

The taste of that name in his mind made Jorge sour. It was a sad day, as that was the same day they had lost their original NOBLE Six. The profile of the operation detailed that Alex was deployed alone the night prior to NOBLE team's battle in Fumirole, when the Covenant was being held back by Army soldiers. He fought his way, alone, through the alien forces and made it on the CCS-class Battle Cruiser. His mission was simple: find and assassinate supposed Covenant leadership.

It was marked, albeit he hadn't succeeded in the primary objective, as a strategic success. He had confirmed that the Covenant had a leader amongst them. However, they didn't know what they looked like, their species, nor their name or names. They had only a confirmed presence, and that was simply depicted based off of what was seen in a single chamber on the cruiser. He had left the ship an hour before Thom-A293 had arrived and delivered a nuclear payload in the center of the cruiser, and had evacuated the system by that time. Everyone was surprised at this unveiling, as they had all thought they were the only Spartan team deployed in that city.

A loud 'whoop' emitted from the range behind Jorge, which rapt his attention from his thoughts. Usually, the range is silent, save for the barks of rifles. However, there seemed to be some sort of congratulations occurring. Curious, Jorge made his way towards the range again.

Once the Spartan-II was just arriving at the doorway, a trio of army soldiers appeared from inside, chatting away excitedly, one of them pumping a hand up into the air.

"Damn, dude! That was awesome. I've seen the Spartans on NOBLE run through that, but their newest is something else!" one practically shouted to another. The other two nodded in agreement before one, a woman about thirty years of age, began speaking.

"Yeah, that was insane. I think he beat the – holy shit, sir!" She suddenly shot into a salute when she caught Jorge in her peripheral, standing at attention. The others instinctively did the same, turning towards the hulking Spartan and standing straight.

"Sir!"

"At ease, specialists," He noted with a glance at their insignia's on their shoulders, "what's all the ruckus I'm hearing about?"

"Nothing much sir, just that your newest addition is a badass!"

Jorge chuckled, "What were you saying before though, specialist…" he looked at the tag on her chest, "Cammack?"

"Oh! The fresh Spartan just beat the gauntlet record of twenty-point-one-seven seconds in there. You should have seen it! We were the victims of it, but that doesn't matter. Seriously, and I thought your CO was fast!" The specialist motioned to their bodies, and that was when Jorge realized the red that stained some of their armor. Paint rounds used to simulate live-fire training had been used, and had thus resulted in a slight red tinge on the armor of the others as well.

The Spartan-II nodded in understanding. It was a small surprise to find that Alex had broken Carter's record on the gauntlet here, as it was a challenge in and of itself. Even he had a hard time running through it as fast, clocking in at a near twenty-one seconds. Granted, his armor was heavy, so there was that to take into consideration. Also was the fact that Jorge was not a frontline rusher in combat, but would stay back and provide suppressing fire whilst others pushed forward. The gauntlet really wasn't something of a strong suit for him.

"So then, what's the new record?" he inquired, earning beaming smiles from the trio in front of him.

The third – a man in his late twenties – spoke up, "Fourteen-point-three-nine seconds."

Jorge stiffened slightly at that. _That_ was almost unbelievable. The gauntlet in the range consisted of a three-story building with tight corridors and long hallways, not to mention the fact that to get from one floor to the next, you had to either go up a steep flight of stairs while being shot at, or scale the elevator shaft. While being shot at.

"You're joking," Jorge half mumbled to himself as he looked towards the range. It just was so hard to believe. He'd have to watch the footage later.

He slightly chuckled as he thought about how Carter might take this though. It was sure to make the Commander loosen up hopefully, and it would allow some of the tension within the air to fade.

"Where is NOBLE Six now?" Jorge prodded the trio one last time. They looked at each other before looking back at the hulking Spartan of a man.

"He's now just shooting down at one of the ranges. Said something about needing to unwind after the gauntlet run he had."

"Alright, Specialists. Thank you for your time, you are dismissed," He stated with a fading chuckled. The trio saluted, before turning away and in the direction of the armory. Probably to go and change their armor, as the paint would certainly draw the attention of their superiors. And by attention, he was thinking more of ire.

Turning back towards the range, he took a deep breath before pushing his way through the doors. What he was met with was the rapid crack of a DMR being shot off rapidly, and the resounding clicks of the magazine being ejected. A small hum emitted from the range itself, and the soldier withdrew their aim, holding the rifle down and clicking the safety in place. The holographic screen above him came alive as it gave him his statistics.

Ninety-eight accuracy percentage.

Seventy-five out of seventy-five targets hit.

Critical kill-spots hit: seventy-five.

Time elapsed: forty-two seconds.

Jorge simply stared at the numbers. He'd expect something like this from _his_ brothers and sisters. It was something that he would expect of _him_ mostly. Yet, here stood the defier of expectations. Someone who turned their heads constantly, who would not let them think they had figured him out. He would constantly be a puzzle for them, one that he felt they could never solve.

For some reason though, this didn't worry Jorge. He smirked under his helmet as he watched Six punch in a new setting, and get into position to begin again. No, he wasn't worried about their newest member. While there were things he did that would more than likely be questionable, there was nothing wrong with how he was operating. Whatever happened in the past was just that, the past. It was now, and judging their newest addition based off of what they had done instead of what they will do.

As long as Six fought to save humanity in the end, he could expect Jorge to stand by him doing so.

The crack of a rifle resounded with the starting buzzer in the range, as the next set of range targets came alive.

* * *

Fingers drummed in rapid succession on a desk as a blue holo-screen replayed the footage again for what must've been for the tenth time. The man who sat there simply smirked as he watched the Spartan III whip a pistol out and blast a marine who was being held by zealots. He looked on with a proud grin as he watched his reaper tear them apart in the confusion and as the other two were tense and frozen where they were, waiting for it to end.

Jacob Ackerson was angry for sure. Urban Holland had all but taken away his grim reaper, his hyper lethal vector to counter Halsey's. He had to consider other ways of dealing with Halsey's pets. They were costing him too much, out-performing his own Spartans too much as well. He needed to show them that her Spartan II's were obsolete now.

He couldn't pull B312 out of NOBLE anymore though. Winter Contingency was in full effect on the planet, and it would be a federal offense to interfere with a Spartan deployment, one that couldn't be protected by ONI. It frustrated him to no end, and thus he began to plot. The introduction of the Mark V MJOLNIR armor was soon, and he knew the candidate for who it was going to be testing it.

And it was _perfect._

Jacob Ackerson closed the holo-screen. Halsey's pet won't get out of this, surely…

* * *

 **All friendships start with a little tension. I think.**

 **Either way, I like the way it's coming out. I'm trying to delve into everyone a little bit, flesh them out a bit before I focus on specific people. I'm also going to fill in a lot of spots in between the traditional missions here, as when playing the game there** ** _is_** **a gap between dates and what not. Also, it allows for us all to see how the team develops outside of combat, something we didn't have the luxury of seeing a whole lot in the game.**

 **As you can see though, I began touching base with the rest of Six's combat record. Yes, I understand he seems really badass and overpowered right now. This is not supposed to be the total case. He is the only other hyper lethal vector in existence, I feel like his combat record and experience should say that. It's why I dipped him into the headhunter program as well. I'm trying hard to fit him in with a lot of different minor lore pieces without bending them too much.**

 **Thank you for reading this so far. All of your reviews are read, and seeing so many favorites and follows warms me up and gets me typing again. I'll see you next time!**

 **Word Count: 5,970**


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